Thread: Lance Armstrong Steroid Saga

What are your thoughts on this whole issue? He basically admitted to all the charges on the Oprah interview playing right now.

For me, sports are just sports. Not important enough to get so much attention in this manner. The man raised more money for cancer research than practically anyone, and that's all out the window because he juiced up for a bicycle race.

I personally see little wrong with athletes using steroids. There are a lot of myths out there about them. They can be abused, but when used properly they can greatly help some people. They increase your endurance, reduce inflammation, help build muscle amongst other things. Because they are so tightly regulated they are doing more harm on the black market.

When I was younger no matter how hard I worked out I couldn't gain mass. I just wasn't genetically programmed for it. Things improved with age, but I still can't gain like many. Why can't someone who is genetically disadvantaged level the playing field? I know people that don't even work out that have huge muscles.

Steroids were used for years in sports. Schwarzenegger wouldn't have gotten where he was without them. Activist groups have created these harsh laws, regulations and mindset. Without them Armstrong would still be viewed as a hero. Did he cheat? Well he broke the rules, but even with steroids he still had to work hard to get where he got. He was also recovering from cancer and was at a disadvantage over his opponents. Again he was leveling the playing field.

Yeah he even mentioned in the interview he felt somewhat justified using testosterone boosters because after all he did partially lose his testicles during cancer which make about 95% of testosterone in the body.

I'm over with the whole hero worship stuff. Part of me says that I should care but its strange how little this moves me.

Except for this: how the hell did Lance beat all of the testers and skip past all the court cases for these many years? That's truly amazing!

They used to old test just before the race. Now they do it randomly. They can literally knock on your door at 3am and ask you to test. Also they didn't test for EPO which is a drug used to treat anemia usually given for chronic kidney failure or cancer. The nail in Armstrong coffin was when they went went back and tested 6 frozen urine samples taken from the 1999 Tour de France in 2005. They tested positive for EPO. He also supposedly had blood transfusions to help cover up his use of performance enhancers.